How poor ARE the poor in the USA?
 

Interesting article.....

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/BG1713es.cfm

If poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing for a family, relatively few of the 35 million people identified as being "in poverty" by the Census Bureau could be characterized as poor. While material hardship does exist in the United States, it is quite restricted in scope and severity.

The average "poor" person, as defined by the government, has a living standard far higher than the public imagines. The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:

Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.
The typical poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)

Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two or more cars.

Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.

Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a third have an automatic dishwasher.

Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians

Good post. I think few people actually know these stats - especially if you are not here in the US. People from other countries tend to think the US has a great number of poor people - but they don't understand that there are hardly ANY real poor people.

u really think that the truely poor, impoverished, homeless people filled out the census? i think those stats are skewed considerably simply because of who actually is counted in the census.

funny..they seemed to take statistics of people that actually live in houses and have utilities..did they forget about all the homeless and street people.

If you have a roof over your head and food in your stomach, you are not poor.. you are surviving.

Sure, poverty is relative, so what? And where do those stats mention the population equivalent of a very large town which lives homeless in our country's capital alone? Where do they point out that in Washington, people living within a mile of each other may have life expectancies 20 years apart, for no other reason than their economic status.

I really don't care if your morality or political philosophy is such that poverty is of no concern to you. Just be honest. Pretending that poverty doesn't exist or that it is inconsequential, is as disgusting as denying the holocaust.

Sure. They were called on their cell phones :Graucho

ha, just walk down the street, I can't believe how many homeless people there are and they definitely don't have 2 color tv's, they have one and they tuck it in their mobile shopping cart home.

the article just pats itself on the black and makes it easier for us sheep to look the other way. sad, really.

Yeah, that's interesting :warning

The word poor is only relative.... someone who earns $4/week is poor to someone that earns $400/week and that person that earns $400/week is poor to someone that earns $4000/week
:2 cents:

Generally speaking, I feel pretty rich when travelling around in the US. The overall standard cannot be compared to for example Sweden. My :2 cents:

Agreed. Apparently there's a difference between poor and homeless, and the homeless don't count. How sad.

Im poor :(

There are fat homeless people here in Santa Monica. So I don't feel sorry for them one bit. They sleep in green parks next to the ocean and there are organizations who set up food stations on a daily basis.

The vast majority of people who are homeless are homeless because of their own choosing. Many have mental or addiction problems and they refuse the free treatment they can receive. They don't want to stay in the shelters. They have family that will help them, but they refuse that help.

The government hands out billions of dollars each year in free medical, dental, housing, utilities, education, food, child care, bus tokens, etc. There are people who just won't accept it for whatever reason and there are people who take advantage of it.

Go look at the "poor" in other countries and ask yourself where you'd rather be "poor".

Yeah, well it's pretty badhere in San Francisco

Yeah. I am POOR.

McD's is hiring, I heard.

These are not surverys taken in the street - they are actually numbers that are all encompassing and do take into consideration people that do not have homes or live in shelters.

poor isnt really poor anymore

we are very poor & like it :1orglaugh

lol

There are millions of people out of work because of Bush...

Shit I must be poor, I don't have a fucking dishwasher!

The vast majority of people who watch Fox News do so because of their own choosing.

That was deep :winkwink:

I don't see anyone complaining about the government not doing enough for the people choosing to watch Fox News :thumbsup

When you live in tha ghetto tell me about it . I've never lived there but I know people who has and life is way harder then you think .